Speedometer.



1,3,1); BALL}: J. I. new

' SPBBDOMBTER. APPLICATION mum MAR. 21, 1914.

M L gm 0%, .3 T m ,m V 2 a s 1& M QC In" 7 m 3 ,& v v P H. 1). BALL &' J. I, FLOYD.

SPEEDOMETBB.

APPLIGATIOH FILED MAR. 21, 1914.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

fza ezzfars. F

@KMW

KMQQ M 4 5 2 1 t i J1. .4. .i-

33 BALL AND JOHN HQUFELTH BURMA R. GRAY SPEEBQMETER.

Wisconsin.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, H9115.

Application filed March 21, NM. Serial No. $536,335.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Homes i). BALL and JOHN ll. Fnoyn, citizens of the United States. residing at Beloit, in the county of Rock and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new ancl useful Improvements in Speedometers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to speedometers for iinlicatin g the speed of n rotating member.

An ob ect of our invention is to provide a simple and accurate mechanism for inclieating the speed of a rotating; member by rotary speed-indicating dial operated by a centrifugal governor.

is a further object to provide is novel means for transferring the action oi n centrifugal governor to a speed-indicating member so that the governor movement which is variable proportionally with speed increment will be t *ansferred to the indicating member in a movement directly proportionsl to the speed increment.

A further object of our invention is to provie s speedometer which wiil indicate speed of a rotating member driven in either direction, witl'iout change or adjustment of any of the mechanism.

further object of our invention lies novel casingstructure and form of speedincliccting dial. whereby the riesign of the casing cohpersteu with the speerionieter inecha m. sheeting a compact and. efii cient'iy "ianu'fsctured device, and the iinprovecl form of disl permits its indications to he rescliiy :restlshle from various locatiens thereehont.

the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a. face view or our improved speedometer, portions the casing being broken away. Fig, 52 is a sicle View of Fig. 1 with portions of the casing; broken away. lsrgecl v sectional view through the i tea-en on. the iine 3-S of V 1. ovshie parts being in normal position. 4 is a detail pinn sectional view tnlten on the line of Fig. 3. Fig.

is a view in elevation looking at the face I the speedometer and with the iface-sec- Fig. (i is ticn the casing removed.

3 is en enplan sectional view taken on the line of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a plan View of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a plan sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 5. Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional detail view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 3.

A. predominant feature of the design of our improved speedometer is that its casing is spherical; and further, that the mechanism of the speedometer is peculiarly associsted with this design; and this design effects an improved indication reading as will he more particularly pointed out hereinafter. The casing is formecl in two sections, a frame-casing 1.0 and a face-casing 11 fitted together with grooved edges and helci united by screws 12, the frame-casing having diametrically opposite extensions l3 and 14, the former being 9. bearing-receiving means and the latter a support-receiving means. The pipe-section i5 is screwed into the extension 14 and serves as a. support for 2' the speedometer as Well as a drive-casing.

Screwed into the extension '13 of the easing is e compass-casing 16 containing a compass; speedometer-s being used most generally in motor vehicles this compass feature is desirable; 21ml besides this placing; of the compass its casing serves as one dtlr'th'h oer 01 an en ins caring y saving? a hail-seat portion 17.

The rotary speed-indicating dial nnai cenr triziugal governor are conr zinlly mounted and sn ported. through means of arms 18 and. 9 for-inert from trame-casingll), said arms arrying cosxially located bearings 20 enci 21 for the dial and governor respectively, the latter hearing being a ball-bearing.

The indicating-dial 2:2 is located in the upper portion ot' the spherical casing, has a :trusto-conically shaped indicatingiace conforming to this portion of the casingancl has upon its indicating. uniformly spaced; theree'bout, representing (when the speedometer is used in connection with motor vehieies e progressing mileage indication. The face-casing 11 is torzneii. with a sightopening 23 disclosing; a por ion of the dial reading. said casing stationary pointer 24 opposite face gra (ll'lltlOZlS- frame 10 and at its oppoite end to'the shaftmember deserves to maintain the dial in its abovemeiitionednormal position. The

shaft-member 25 has an internally extend ing .pin which is operated by the'governor to rotate the dial in speed-indicating movement as followingly described.

The centrifugal governor occupies a central location in the spherical casing whereby its centrifugally operated arms move in orbits at the diametrical portion ofthe casing. The governor rotor 31 is journaled in the ball bearin g 21 and has a suitable conmotion 32 with the driving member 33 whose speed of rotation is sought to be indicated by the dial.- The rotor carries fixedly three radially and upwardly extending posts 34 each of which has pivoted thereto on a horizontal axis at 35, a weighted arm 36. Said arms are pivoted intermediate their ends and their weighted ends located above their pivots and such as to effect a desired maximum orbit for the movement of said arms by centrifugal force. Coiled springs 37 serve as a means for maintaining the weighted arms in a normal position. ,The

rotor carries an upstanding shaft 38, and

mounted rotatably and movable axially thereon is-a sleeve 39 whose upper end is received and fits slidably in the tubular shaftmember 25 and whose lower end has an annulanflange 40 which engages withian annular groove in the transverse disk 41,

' whereby the disk is movable rotatably on the annular flange 40 and shaft 38 but is fixed with respect to the sleeve 39 from movement axially; and an axially adjustable stop 42 r on shaft 38 limits the down position of said disk. The inner ends 43 of the weighted arms 36 are connected to the said disk in such a manner that by the pivoting of said arms their oscillatory movement will move the disk reciprocably upon shaft 38 and likewise move the sleeve 39. This connection can be made in various manners,' that herein shown being thdapertured heads'44 located in recesses 45 in the disk periphery, the heads being trunnioned upon the disk, so that by oscillatory movement of said arms the disk is moved reciprocably. The sleeve 39 is held from rotary movement by a pin 47 carried by an extension 49 from the arm 18 being located in a longitudinally extending slot 49 in said sleeve. The action ofthe governor imparts rotary movement to the dial thrgugh a y the arm ends 43 fitting slidably in means which transfers the governor movement which is variable proportionally with acceleration of speed, to the dial in a movement directly proportional to said speed ar 'oelerati'on. A means we have found satis" factory to this end'is in the provision'of spiral groove in the sleeve 39, thepin' 30 of shaft-member 25 being located'in said groove f I to be guided thereby, the pitch of the groove being variable to effect the abovementioned change of movement; and the variable pitch is clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 wherein it will be seen that the groove spiral incline commences at 50 with a slight angle which increases as the groove nears its -lo wer; end, until at 51 it has a relatively steep; incline. speedometers of the above-describedtype are most generally. used in connection with motor vehicles for indicating the miles per hour at which the vehicle is traveling, and in such case the driving member 33 w uld be suitably connected to one of the yehicle wheels. Following the operation of :the

speedometer thus applied, it will beiseen that: With the vehicleat a stand the able parts of the speedometer mechanisn'ri as shown in the drawings. As'the vehicle is put in motion the governor is rotated, increment of speed moving the Weighted arms outward by centrifugal force, this movement causing the sleeve 39 to be raised and thereby imparting rotary movement to the dial through the spiral groove and pin connec tion, suchrotation of the dial indicating at the sight 23-the speed at which the vehicle j istravelin'g, and such rotation being against governor the dial would move at a fastrate,

while during the faster speed of the overnor the dial would move at a relatively slower. rate. This defect is remedied through ineans as above described in the form of the variable pitgroove 50-51; and through this means th governor movement which varies with speed increment is transferred to the speed-indicating member so that the speed-indicating movement thereof is directly proportional to the speed increment. By adjustment of the member 42 axially a means is dial with its Q indication normally at the pointer.

It will be noticed that the rotor governor may be rotated in either direction and will cause indication of speed when so rotated; 30

provided for'setting the tained for reverse and by this action two objects are effected: The speed indication of a member can be obdirections of drive withchange or speedometer mechanism; re speedometers are used. with motor vsli vehicles the driving connect on of" the speed peculiar construction and relationship of the governor and dial in w ich there is a swivel connection at 40 between the two to effect the said objects. This positive connection pernits of thoroughly accurate speed-indication. thereby remedying a defect common to llerent types of speedometers now in use, specially those oil the magnetic type where in atmospheric conditions efiect in their operation. so as to make them inaccurate under all conditions of use. A. further feature of our invention will be observed in the spherical casing construction and the relation of the different operating elements. also in the trnsto-conically shapedspeed-indicating dial. The peculiar cooperation of the compassrasing and endhearing; has been abovementicned; and with the conforming of the dial to the spherical casin in the upper portion thereof and the s of the governor in the central portion thereof whereby the orbit of the arms disposed in the din-metrical portion ncre, a very compact and well asstrnctnre is permitted and in a' ninimnm sized casino. I y the conical ind? eating face of the dial and the axis thereof being vertical. the locating of speedome ter in motor vehicle at the dash as is the common practice. the said face is at approXimately right angles to the line of vision of occrqiants from. various positions in the vehicle, thereby permitting ready and accnrate reading.

claim as our invention: .l. In a speedometer, a rotary speed-indicating dial, a centrifugal governor on an axis co-axial with that of the dial, means including a variable pitch cam movable laxially of said axis by centrifugal 0 eration of the grwernor. and a connection between said axially movable cam-means and the dial for moving the dial rotatably by axial movement of said cam-means. 2. In a speedometer, a eating dial a centrifugal governor, a recip rocable member having a variable pitch canrwaiy thereon, connection between the centrifugal governor 1 ociated rotary speed-indi- M Anorme ror reci. :cvati toe latter thioagh or and a I m. one speew. o

rating movement is transferred to said variable pitch cam-way whereby the said dial is moved rotatably by said spiral cam-way.

' 3. in a speedometer, a rotary speed-indicating dial, a centrifugal governor, a reciprocable member having a spiral cam-way thereon formed with a variable pitch, connection between the centrifugal governor and said reciprocable member for reciproeating the latter through operation of the former, and a connection between the speed indicating dial and the said spiral cam-way whereby the said dial is moved rotatably by said spiral cam-waya. In a speedometer, a rotary speed-indi eating dial, a governor, telescoping; cylindri cal members, one movable rotatablv in connection with the dial and the other movable axially'by governor movement, one of said members being provided with a spiral guide-way of variable pitch, and means connecting said guide-way with the other memleer whereby a predetermined rotary movement is imparted to the speed-indicating; dial through said gov i'nor operation.

a speedometer, the combination with a rotary speed-indicating dial, ot a. contrifugal governor comprising, a rotor, a plurality of weighted arms pivoted interme-- diate their ends to the rotor and having their non-Weighted ends extending toward the rotor axis, means co-axial with the rotor axis and being movable flXRlllY, a connection between said non-weighted arms and said means for moving said means axially by centrifugal operation or said weighted arms, and a'connection between said axially movable means and said dial including a spiral gnideway, whereby rotary speed-in through governor operation.

6. in a speedometer, a. shaft having a hollow center portion, a rotary speedandieating dial mounted upon the shaft, a centrifngal governor. a cylindrical member movable axially in said hollow shaft portion, a connection between said cylindrical member and the governor for moving the former axially through governor operation, and a connection between the said hollow shaft and cylindrical member including a spiral cam-way whereby rotary motion may be imparted to the shaft by axial movement of the governor operated member.

7. in a speedometer, a rotary dial having; speeddndicating graduations thereon, means exerting aitension upon the dial to move it yieldingly in one direbtion of rotation, an adjustable stop for limiting its movement in said direction, dial inthe opposite eating movement.

8. In a speedometer, a rotary speed-indi catin dial, a centrifugal governor, means movable axially or" the dial axis and lying direction in speed'indh (11" the dial and means for moving the '5. El e connected with the governor for transferring governor movement to the dial to rotate same in speed-indicating movement, an adjustable stop for limiting the movement, of said means in one direction, and gpx-ing means for maintaining said axially movable meansyieldingly limited by said Stop.

In testimony WhfiIQ f We have hereunto e HORACE D. BALL.

JOHN I. FLOYD.

In presence of J. WV. DAY, FPR. ONEAL. 

